The playback of movies, music and other content recorded on optical disks or other packaged media has become commonplace. For example, it is common to insert a prerecorded optical disc into a computer disc drive and use a virtual, i.e., software-based, player to view the content on the computer screen. Integrated video disc players, i.e., machines that have integral screens, can be used similarly. However, the use of computers and computer-like devices to play back content is rooted in the use of standalone players, i.e., player machines that output signals to television screens. Indeed, standalone media players remain quite popular, and it is common for persons to rent or purchase discs to view movies, television shows, and other content through television screens and other home entertainment systems via a standalone player. Newer high-definition (HD) video formats and economical large-screen HD televisions have helped maintain the popularity of this mode of playback.
Videocassette recorders (VCRs) were for many years the dominant type of playback device for consumer use. A VCR is a machine to which a person can connect a television and play back a videocassette, in which the signals are recorded on magnetic tape. Movies, television shows, and other titles were widely available for rental or purchase on the videocassette medium.
Optical disc media have largely supplanted the videocassette. A common optical disc format is known as DVD. The recording medium (disc) itself is known simply as a DVD. A DVD player plays back a DVD in a manner analogous to that in which a VCR plays back a videocassette. However, the DVD format provides a number of improvements, including on-screen menus that a user can navigate using a remote control. When a person inserts a DVD into a DVD player, the player responds not only to recorded video signals but to recorded data files that include predefined commands for generating on-screen displays, such as menus and sub-screens. Upon inserting a DVD, the user is typically presented with a main menu listing one or more options, from which the user can select an option using the remote control. The menu options typically include playing back the movie or other main content item in its entirety, navigating to a selected scene or other sub-portion for playback, and navigating to movie trailers, commentary, or other such “bonus material.”
As DVDs that contain serialized or episodic content are popular, a common menu option allows the user to navigate to a specific episode. A common example of serialized or episodic content is the set of episodes from a broadcast season of a television series. It is common for persons to rent or purchase a DVD or set of DVDs that contains one or more season's episodes of a favorite television series, so that the person can view an entire season's episodes in sequence. While this allows one to view each episode at his or her convenience, it is not unusual for one to forget which episode was the last episode viewed. When this occurs, the person may need to briefly view portions of several episodes before identifying the next one to be viewed. The person may feel frustrated by having to conduct this sometimes time-consuming search for the last episode viewed. The problem is compounded in an instance in which the episodes are distributed over more than one disc, as the person may need to skim through episodes on more than one disc before identifying the next episode to be viewed.
A newer generation of optical disc technology provides improved HD video formats and media storage capacity and encompasses so-called “smart” media players. One such technology is known as Blu-ray Disc®, a format administered by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a consortium of consumer electronics, computer, and media manufacturers. Media players that take advantage of advanced features of this newer generation of optical disc technology are referred to as smart media players because they can perform operations that are significantly more complex and computer-like than the simple menu navigation and other operations provided under the DVD standard. This next generation of standards contemplates that media players may include non-volatile data storage, such as solid-state (e.g., flash) memory and magnetic disk drives, as well as programmable processor systems that can execute versatile programming code (such as Java code) read from the disc. In addition, some media players include interfaces for connection to the Internet.